A Boot Collector Feature
A Vietnam veteran who trained under Sam Lucchese himself built his own El Paso boot house from scratch, dressed Neiman Marcus's Christmas catalog and a Saks boutique of his own, and was still being honored for it the year he died.
Rodney Ammons was born in Tennessee in 1948, enlisted in the military in 1966, and served in Vietnam, where he was severely injured. He began his career in footwear in the early 1970s at Genesco in Nashville while earning a degree in industrial engineering, then moved to Lucchese Boot Company, where he trained directly under Sam Lucchese and significantly increased the plant's production output.
In 1985, Ammons struck out on his own, founding Ammons Boot Company in El Paso. The business grew to more than 100 employees producing both custom and retail boots, and his reputation reached well beyond Texas: Neiman Marcus featured his alligator boots in its Christmas catalog, and Saks Fifth Avenue hosted a dedicated Ammons leather boutique at the Dallas Galleria. In 2010, Ammons joined Justin Brands to help produce Tony Lama Signature boots, tying his own name to two other legendary El Paso houses in a single career. He received Justin Brands' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, the same year he died of cancer in Fort Worth, survived by his wife, Cydne, his son, Randall, and his brothers, Rick and Roger.
Ammons built a client list the company has described as including U.S. presidents, Hollywood figures, musicians, sports stars, and corporate leaders, alongside the retail recognition of a Neiman Marcus catalog feature and a standalone Saks boutique — a level of crossover into mainstream luxury retail that few custom El Paso bootmakers achieved. The company's own boots are described as "timeless classics," with many carrying heirloom designation: built, in other words, to be handed down rather than worn out.
A boot house built by a veteran who learned the trade at the elbow of Sam Lucchese, still carrying his name and his standard forward.